


down on the west coast

by gaydelrey



Category: Lana Del Rey (Musician), Marina & the Diamonds
Genre: Drugs, F/F, F/M, Femslash, I haven't come up with the entire story yet so idk if there will be smut or anything, Implied Heterosexuality, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Mentions of heterosexuality, References to Drugs, lana is bi and that is canon fight me, lana is like carmen, marina is a bit like electra but softer and a bit more shy, maybe she'll be a bit like ultraviolence!lana, this is a college au, wlw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2019-10-05 04:24:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17318030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaydelrey/pseuds/gaydelrey
Summary: What happens down on the West Coast, stays on the West Coast.Marina is going to move back to London anyways, so nothing from her college visit will matter, right? That means she can listen to what this "Lana" has to say.





	1. - cocaine with flour

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is the first time i've ever written fanfiction and i honestly just do it for myself, i need to practice writing and i thought it'd be fun to post and see my progress later on. i'm not a writer, i've only ever written stories in school. also, english is not my first language so there may be some language/grammar errors.
> 
> also i suck at summaries, i'm so sorry skjskjs
> 
> anyways, if anyone decides to read this; please tell me if it was bad and tell me what i did wrong!!

down on the west coast - chapter 1

 

A quick but loud sound snapped Marina out of her thoughts. A sign over the doors read ’5’ in a bright, yellow light. As soon as they slid open, she walked out of the elevator and found herself standing alone in an empty hallway. The walls were pale and lacked decoration, _a few paintings wouldn’t hurt _. A single plant stood next to her and looked like it was in serious need of some watering, it was really hot here and Marina could feel the pearls of sweat forming on her forehead - it didn’t exactly help that she had dragged her bags around the entire day.__

____

 

She freed her right arm from one of her bags and took her phone out of her pocket, 10:45, she still had a moment until she had to be back in one of the lecture halls for information. Tiredly, she searched for the number 21 somewhere, a few doors to her right she found it. The number was in a gold-ish colour and she dragged her feet over to the door accompanied by the golden numbers. Music from inside the dorm could be heard and Marina figured her roommate had already settled in. She assumed the door was unlocked and slowly pushed the door handle down.  
The door opened and she could see the back of an auburn haired girl sitting on a couch. As Marina stepped in and put her bags down the other girl didn’t seem to notice her arrival and just hummed along to whatever song she was listening to. Marina gently closed the door behind her, not wanting to disturb the girl that was clearly caught up in the world of music. She took her water bottle out of her purse and turned to the kitchen sink that was right next to her. After filling the bottle with cold water she took a few sips and decided to go introduce herself to her roommate.

 

”Hi!” She put on a smile and said. The girl seemed to still be unaware of Marina’s presence. _Shit. She didn’t hear me. What if she’s deaf or something oh my god no that’s embarrassing. Wait no, if she was deaf she wouldn’t be listening to music. ___  
”Hey,” Marina tried again and took a step closer to the couch. The girl quickly turned around and met Marina with a surprised expression on her face. She had big eyes in a shade of bright emerald green. She flashed a smile at Marina and stood up from where she previously sat. Her lips were plump and she had the most gorgeous smile.  
”Hi! I’m Lana, I’m guessing you’re either my new roommate or someone coming to rob me, I didn’t hear you on your way in.” The very pretty girl said in an equally pretty voice with an American accent. She turned the music down a bit. Marina let out a small laugh.  
”Roommate, yes. I’m Marina. Uh, Marina Diamandis.” Lana smiled again nodded at Marina.  
”Nice to meet you Marina Diamandis. Welcome to L.A by the way, judging by your very British accent I take it as you’re not from here.” Marina smiled at that.  
”No, just got here from London actually, but before I got there I lived in Greece for two years and I was born in Wales.”  
”Quite the globetrotter, huh? I moved here from New York last year when I started my first year of college, I was also born in New York.” Lana said and sat back down on the couch again. ”Are you a freshman?” She added and motioned for Marina to sit down next to her.  
”No, it’s my second year actually. I managed to get transferred from my uni back in London, I took the same classes as they do here the first year so it worked out.” Marina answered and dropped down next to Lana.  
”Then we might have classes together!” Lana happily exclaimed. ”Show me your schedule later and we’ll see, I’ll give ya a tour around campus as well.”  
”Thank you, I appreciate it,” Marina smiled back at Lana. ”But if you’re here on your second year… you’ve already been living here for a year, right?”  
”Yeah.” Lana answered.  
”Why did you live here alone? Like, there was obviously a spot her for me, why didn’t anyone move in when you did?” Marina asked.  
”Oh, I had a roommate,” Lana let out a small laugh. ”She was suspended last semester when the cops found her on campus with small bags of cocaine hidden in-between pages in one of her books, they found out she sold it to other students. During our first exam week here, so many people came to her and wanted to buy, she started selling for twice the original price and she mixed it out with flour. No one noticed. You gotta be careful with where you put your stuff, but don’t worry, I’ll show you.”  
”Uhm,” Marina stuttered ”I’m not really into that… kinda stuff.”  
”Oh, really?” Lana said and sounded genuinely surprised. ”Anyways, your room is the one to the left, bathroom next to it, you might want to start unpack your bags before orientation starts.”  
Marina checked her phone for the time again. She wanted to be on time, or even better, early.  
”Right, thanks, Lana.” She smiled and stood up to make her way over to the bags she left on the floor. Marina was thankful her roommate had been so nice, now she didn’t have to walk around completely clueless of everything. She was relieved that Lana was a sophomore and knew how things worked around here, that was going to be very helpful. As she started dragging her bags across the floor towards her room, she watched Lana lie down on the couch and start humming to a song again.

____

 

Unpacking wasn’t a thing that Marina was especially fond of, so she was glad it went quickly. Her room was nice, the walls were painted white and she had a closet that had space for all of her clothes, except for all of her jackets, she’d have to hang those somewhere else. The bed was bigger than she thought it would be and it looked great with her baby pink cushions on top of it. It was definitely worth the money, she was glad the school offered student housing in a real apartment building. All that was missing now was a few cute plants and some pictures or posters to put up on the wall.  
She took a look of herself in the mirror and decided she looked decent enough to go down to orientation, she also hoped Lana would make her company on the way there. Marina noticed that the other girl’s humming had stopped, it had gotten quiet outside the bedroom. She walked out to see what was going on.

 

Standing in the living room, Marina saw Lana on the small balcony, looking out over the city. Marina walked over and pushed the glass doors open to join her. She heard Lana breathe out and saw smoke coming from her mouth.  
”Those will kill you, you know.” Marina stated and stood next to her.  
”That’s what I’m hoping for.” Lana said quietly without looking away. Oh. Marina looked down at her feet and stayed silent. ”Does the smoke bother you? I can put it out if you want to.” Lana turned to Marina and said in a soft tone.  
”No no, it’s fine, don’t worry.” Marina quickly replied and shook her head. Lana gave her a small nod and rested her arms on the glass railing. They were on the highest floor of the building, looking out over the unfamiliar city.  
”It’s beautiful.” Marina said after a moment of silence.  
”It is,” Lana shortly responded. ”Orientation is in 15 minutes,” she said and looked at Marina with a small smile. ”I’ll walk you there.”


	2. - definitely not a cigarette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marina is introduced to two of lana's friends
> 
> she also experiences some mild sexual tension

down on the west coast - chapter 2

 

”Looks like we do have classes together!” Lana said and handed Marina back the paper with her schedule. ”Now, we could go look at the classrooms or we could do something less boring - like sneak off somewhere and smoke.” Lana tilted her head and smiled.  
”Sure, why not.” Marina could need a guide around campus, this school was big. But on the other hand she didn’t want to miss the chance of becoming friends with her roommate, besides it was hard for Marina to tell her no.  
Lana seemed happy that she agreed and that for some reason made Marina feel good.  
”Great, I’ll text Rocky and Abel.” Lana took out her phone and started walking away. Marina assumed she wanted her to follow.  
”Who are Rocky and Abel?” Marina asked as she turned to look at the taller girl. She did want to meet new people, but smoking with a guy named Rocky, like the boxer, might not be the greatest way to start the semester. She still wasn’t entirely sure of the rules of the school, but she was certain she didn’t want to get in trouble. Saying no to Lana, however, was really not an easy task.  
”They’re two pretty cool guys in the year above us. They both helped me out when I first started here.” Lana answered as she looked up from her phone. ”They’ll meet us there in five.”

 

The smoking hideout was located in a fairly remote part of the campus grounds. Marina was surprised to encounter such an empty spot in such a busy city, especially on orientation day. Now, they did have to crawl under a metal fence that separated the active buildings from the hideout, so maybe it wasn’t that unexpected that it was all empty.  
”This building isn’t in use anymore. It used to serve as some kind of housing for teachers, or whatever, but it was closed down like ten years ago.” Lana told Marina as they stood in front of an old, dodgy building. Marina would be lying if she said it didn’t look absolutely terrifying, the house was definitely haunted.  
”Pretty, yeah?” Lana asked and let out a chuckle at the sight of Marina’s expression.”A sight for sore eyes.” Marina responded with a smile.

 

”Lana!” A voice called out from the building. It was soon followed by two heads peering out of a broken window on the first floor. ”Get inside!” One of them said.  
”Hey!” Lana yelled back and grabbed Marina’s hand. Marina didn’t have time to reflect on the sudden physical contact, as she was dragged inside by an excited Lana.Behind the heavy wooden door, they were met by two boys who were clearly happy to see their friend. One of them flashed a truly captivating smile and the other one looked like he had a pineapple hidden somewhere inside his hair.  
”Rocky!” Lana squealed as she let go of Marina’s hand and threw herself in the arms of the boy to the left with the pretty smile. He softly pressed a kiss to her cheek. Marina wouldn’t mind to be in Lana’s position, but as she thought, she realized she’d be okay with being in Rocky’s position as well. After a quick exchange of words between the two, that Marina didn’t quite catch, and another hug from the other guy, Abel, Lana turned back to Marina.  
”This is Rocky and Abel. Guys, this is Marina.” Lana looked delighted to introduce her new friend.”I haven’t seen you around before” Abel said gave Marina a faint smile.  
”Did you corrupt a freshie?” Rocky quickly asked Lana, clearly amused. Lana, in response, gasped, acting offended. ”I would never!”  
”I transferred from London, I’m actually in Lana’s year.” Marina informed the guys she had just been introduced to.  
”Well, Marina,” Abel started. ”I’m going to show you how we do things on the west coast.” He reached for something in his pocket.”Shut up, you’re not even American.” Lana playfully told him.  
Abel pulled out a bag of- oh… oh, so that’s what they were smoking. What Marina had been expecting when she went off to smoke with Lana was regular cigarettes, what Rocky and Abel had already started to roll was definitely not a cigarette. Lana must’ve noticed Marina’s look of confusion mixed with surprise, because she snorted loudly and looked over to her.  
”Not what you had expected?”Well,” Marina started.  
”You don’t do this shit in England?” Rocky looked up with a grin.  
”Never was much for it. E is usually what I turn to.” Marina continued. 

 

She had only done e once and hadn’t ended very well, she had left a party in Kensington together with her friends high as a kite. That night she fell into a fountain and lost one of her shoes, it’s still a mystery to her where it went. She fancied one of the guys there but he had looked at her and her friends like they were the scuzziest rats he’d ever seen. It’s safe to say they weren’t invited to any more fancy west London parties.  
She would definitely say she preferred alcohol over drugs, drinking she was very familiar with. 

 

”A pill girl, huh?” Marina was thankful Rocky didn’t seem to think she was boring or anything like that. While she had slightly over exaggerated her use of drugs, she wanted to fit in with the others. She gave him a nod and a small smile in response.  
Lana took the freshly rolled joint between her lips and lighted the tip of it. She took a drag while she looked Marina straight in the eye. Not breaking eye contact, she exhaled and blew thick smoke towards Marina. While she was surely a bit intimidated, the sight of Lana doing it made her want to try. She could swear she saw the American wink at her.

 

”You give it a try.” Lana suggested and handed the lit joint over to Marina. Just for a second, she hesitated, but she reached for it and took it. Their fingers brushed while Lana’s hand lingered just long enough for Marina to notice. She carefully brought her hand up to her mouth and took a slow drag. She could feel the smoke in the back of her throat, she could also feel Lana’s fixed gaze on her lips. Marina wanted to cough. Well, she didn’t want to, but she needed to. As she exhaled, she tried to stifle her cough and quickly passed the joint to Abel. A faint blush creeped over her cheeks when she looked back up and was met by Lana proudly smiling.  
”See, you’re doing great.”  
”It’s really not that different from normal cigarettes.” Marina answered.


	3. a strand of damp, auburn hair

down on the west coast - chapter 3

 

Marina slumped down on the sofa as she watched Lana slide the doors open to the balcony. She instantly realized that Lana was heading out for a smoke.

”Already?” She called out. She could feel that she was still coming down, right now, all she could think about was resting and maybe having something to eat. Lana had other plans.

”Gotta keep it going.” The American said from outside.

Marina did use to smoke, since it was cool and everyone else did it. However, she’d given up since she didn’t find any satisfaction in doing it. Surely, she could smoke one or two if she had company, like if Lana invited her - especially if Lana invited her, but it wasn’t worth it doing it alone. 

Although cigarettes did no longer appeal to her, Marina admired the sight of Lana breathing the smoke in and out. Something about the auburn-haired girl had caught her eye, Marina was very aware how visually pleasing she was, exactly what she had expected to see in America. There was some sort of elegance that she was sure could be found nowhere but here, nowhere but in this apartment complex, nowhere but in Lana.  
Marina had barely known the girl for a day, but she knew she wanted to be friends with her. Did she look up to her? Did she want to be her? Marina didn’t feel like she envied her, but her mind told her she should.

 

A door slammed loudly and Marina shot up, she quickly came to the realization that she must have dozed off on the sofa. A visibly upset Lana came rushing into the apartment. There was an angry, muffled voice on the other side of the door and a couple of heavy knocks followed it. Lana had tears gently, streaming down her cheeks. Her green eyes were surrounded by a black mess of mascara and smeared eyeliner. She didn’t make a sound, didn’t look at Marina, she just held her head low and walked towards her room.  
It was clear that the deep voice from outside belonged to a man. But to who exactly, Marina didn’t know. She was pretty sure it didn’t come from Abel or Rocky, they had both sounded way too sweet earlier. Not really wanting to find out who it was, she made her way over to Lana.

Lana hadn’t closed her door entirely, so it was easy for Marina to push it open a bit and peek her head inside to get a look of Lana. The room was dark, but Marina could still make out Lana’s figure on the bed. She had expected full on sobbing, but she walked in to the other girl lying face-down, as quiet as ever. As Marina slowly sat down on the bed next to her, she could hear the uneven breathing of the crying girl.

”Are you okay?” Marina gently asked and stroked Lana’s upper arm.  
”Yeah.” Lana answered quietly and sniffled.  
”You don’t seem okay.” It was becoming clear to Marina that Lana didn’t want to show her sadness, maybe she didn’t like showing emotions, or maybe she didn’t want to show weakness.

”Do you want to talk about it?” Marina asked, wanting to show Lana she could trust her.  
Marina herself wasn’t usually very fond of sharing her feelings. She was convinced it was better to just bottle it up and try to forget about it, she didn’t want to bother anyone with her problems. If she was upset, she would just tell herself: Well, sucks to be you. Now get over it. and she would, or at least she would try.  
Lana turned her head to look at Marina.

”No.” She just said quietly. Marina hadn’t ever heard such a small voice come out of a person. The girl lying beside her was suddenly the tiniest person she’d ever seen, Marina wanted to protect her. She probably wasn’t the kind of person who wanted to be pitied, but Marina truly felt bad for her. It bothered her to see the girl, who had been nothing but kind to Marina, in pain. It was a mystery to her how someone could want to hurt such a darling person. She deserved better. Marina let out a soft sigh.  
”Well,” she reached out and brushed a strand of damp, auburn hair behind Lana’s hair. ”I’m here if you want to.” That had happened quickly. Marina wasn’t sure what made her do it. Slightly embarrassed, she slid off the bed, stood up and turned her gaze down to the floor. She thanked the room for being dark enough to hide the red on her cheeks.  
”You know where to find me if you change your mind.” Marina swallowed. ”Goodnight.”

Marina got into her bed with a sigh. She wanted to know what had happened. Her conversation with Lana had been quite one-sided, so she hadn’t exactly gotten any answers. Who was the man outside? Boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend? For all Marina knew, it could be a drug dealer, maybe someone Lana or one of her friends work for. She was certain she did not like whoever it was.  
She also wanted to know what he had done to her. Had they fought? She left in tears, and he banged on the door, yelling. Marina wondered if he was still out there, she hoped not.

She almost forgot to put an alarm for tomorrow morning. Lana and the angry mystery-man had occupied her thoughts tonight. Marina didn’t bother to check what time it was, she just wanted to go to sleep. Unfortunately, sleep didn’t come easy. Maybe Lana was still awake in the other room, maybe she had cried herself to sleep. Had she often done that? Had the man caused her pain before?  
Marina didn’t know.


End file.
